If you’re faced with lengths of handstand walks in a workout, why not use a pirouette to turn around and come back?

“To do a handstand pirouette, you have to have a really good sense of where vertical is,” says Laurie Galassi, a gymnast and coach at CrossFit Santa Cruz.

Starting beside a wall, Galassi has her athlete establish a solid handstand position. Then Galassi has the athlete kick upside down and take a few controlled steps toward the wall. This, Galassi says, it the prerequisite to the handstand pirouette.

Moving away from the wall, Galassi puts a chalk X on the floor and has the athletes use the center of the X and the ends of the lines to guide their rotation in 90-degree increments.

The key is to keep the core tight, welding the arms to the torso, hips and legs. If the hands rotate and the hips don’t, you’re in trouble. The knees, hips and armpits should rotate as one.

“You’ve got to squeeze your butt. That way you’ll turn in one piece,” says Galassi.

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